


names of the past and future

by forestmagicwithin



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24909229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestmagicwithin/pseuds/forestmagicwithin
Summary: Tangled is my absolute favorite Disney movie, and I just had to see these characters again, with a few ties to the original tale. Isabella's name wouldn't have been my initial choice for Rapunzel's daughter, but after researching the original fairytale and finding the story came from Naples, I named her after a real princess of Naples who died in the early 1800s, close enough to the timeframe in my mind that connects the Tangled-Frozen universe and plausible enough for Arianna and Frederic to name their own baby girl after. Especially because the original tale was "Petrosinella" and not "Rapunzel", I also loved that Isabella ended in -ella. My personal headcanon is that Arianna, Willow, and Agnarr were all siblings in that order, so Arianna and Willow's original home was Arendelle. Cassandra's final outfit does match the Arendelle uniform rather well, and I love the idea that she found a more comfortable home/fresh start in Arendelle than Corona. I do have more ideas on Cass's new connections to both Arendelle and Rapunzel's cousins there, but I'll leave that for another time. Thanks for reading!
Kudos: 5





	names of the past and future

_Twins_.

When Rapunzel heard the news, she froze. She'd spent weeks imagining the possibilities (boy or girl, brunette or blonde, green eyes or brown), and of course the idea that there might be more than one had crossed her mind- but she was really having _twins_.

Beside her, squeezing her shoulders comfortingly, Eugene began asking questions. He did that whenever he panicked, but at least they were directed at the doctor, not her. She wasn't really listening either; her mother would tell her later what they'd said. The queen was seated beside her, holding her hand. She wanted her mother there with her for every step of what was obviously a larger journey than she'd realized.

Her eyes, misty from the moment she'd heard the word _twins_ , couldn't blink. Absently, she touched her stomach. _Twins, twins, twins_...

When Eugene's hand came to rest over hers, she stared up at him, meeting his concern with a radiant smile. "They're never going to be alone," she told him, her voice nearly not strong enough to carry the words.

He held her. Beside them, the queen put a hand to her mouth as her own eyes teared up.

_Twins_.

. . .

Lists and lists and lists overtook their room. Over the walls crawled name after name, painted in cursive, as Rapunzel covered her world in the possibilities of the lives growing within her. She thought of her sister, but Cass outright refused to let Rapunzel name a baby after her. She thought of her mother and father, of the legacy a king's name would bear and the land her mother's name carried with it. She thought of another sister, the far-off Aunt Willow who had written an excited letter the moment they'd sent word of the news. She thought of two more sisters, cousins from across the sea.

In her mind, the babies within were twin girls. Perhaps it came from so many pairs of sisters surrounding her, or the desire she'd nearly forgotten from her younger years, to have a sister of her own. Either way, girls' names came far more easily to her.

Eugene had been very accepting of every suggestion, besides the idea of "Eugenia", which had taken an entire afternoon for him to laugh off. When she'd asked about naming a possible boy after his father, he'd gently turned it down. His contributions were often drawn from stories he'd grown up with or the children from the orphanage of his past. He loved the idea of "Flynn", and the name had been painted in large blue letters on the wall across from their bed. Beside it were names that might pair well or even rhyme with it. Beyond that and a couple other lists, she drowned herself in girls' names.

Hesitantly, one day, she asked her mother what her name was meant to be. Gothel had named her for the plants that grew abundantly outside the tower, but she'd never asked who she'd been to them before the Lost Princess. The queen was surprised, but gave her a gentle smile. "We heard the news when we were in Naples. It's one of the countries I'd never quite made it to, when I was young and traveling, so your father took me sometime after we were married. We decided to honor their royal family by naming you for one of their little princesses who had died young. You would've been Maria Isabella, though just Isabella to us."

Doubly more emotional than she would've been a few months ago, Rapunzel cried again. She barely remembered the Italian royals who had come for her coronation. Her mother assured her it wasn't the Duke's family, those who they'd stayed with while in Naples. Still, she made her mother promise to help her invite them for the next royal function they'd hold. It always overwhelmed her, learning about the history of her family, but this was _her_ history. It was a piece of Rapunzel's story she'd never had, a memory she'd never even thought to ask for. She couldn't stop talking about it with Eugene that night, about the little girl she was named for, yet another lost princess.

"Isabella," she whispered. "I would've been _Isabella_."

The life she should've had stung to remember. She wouldn't have Eugene or Cass in her life if it weren't for the kidnapping, but the entire future her infant self had had was hard to think of.

"We can give all of that to her," Eugene promised, holding her. "She can have everything you wanted, all of it and a thousand things more."

The ache to have a daughter grew and grew. Just one, that's all she wanted- not both, it didn't have to be both, as long as there was at least one. Someone to share everything with, to live the life her parents had wanted for her. Just one little girl, to be her Isabella, to have everything.

. . .

Her cousins came to visit, alongside Cass, when she had only two weeks before the babies were expected. She shared the story of the Italian princess and of Flynnigan Rider, and the queen of Arendelle cried with her again. Beside them, Elsa gave the two of them a warm smile, squeezing Rapunzel's hands and trying to comfort her sister.

"We're staying for the birth too," Anna announced, through hiccuping sobs. "I know we only said for the baby shower, but-"

Elsa cut her off gently, laughing. "You're a queen now, Anna, you have a kingdom to run."

"I have a niece!" Confused, Anna looked at Rapunzel. "Or a nephew, or both, or... second cousins? Third? First twice removed?"

The emotional outpour was stemmed by the consultation of a family tree and patient explanations from both Elsa and Arianna. The two's level-headed influence helped keep Rapunzel calm in the final days before the birth. Willow and Anna eagerly teamed up to create a whirlwind of a baby shower, with Arianna and Elsa taming it into a more reasonable affair. Anna's dorky husband remained awkward around both her and Eugene, despite all the schemes she and Anna came up with to encourage a friendship between the husbands. Still, it was sweet to see how soft Kristoff became whenever he helped with anything for the baby. It was obvious the couple was waiting on Anna to be ready for a child of their own, not the other way around.

Cass provided a stark contrast to this. She had every detail of the plan rehearsed with every available doctor, prepared for any or all of them to deliver the twins. (It was really only the responsibility of the castle doctors, but Cass had backup upon backup plan.) In the final week, she made sure a doctor was never farther than two rooms away at any given time, knowing it would end badly if she tried to restrict Rapunzel only to the part of the castle near the infirmary. The idea of being an aunt seemed to cause her some anxiety, so she preferred to focus on the controllable parts of the situation. The sight of Willow trying to bond with Cass over being aunts was hilarious, though.

Three nights before the estimated date, Rapunzel's eyes opened into the darkness. Sleepily, she turned to face her husband. " _Eugene_..."

. . .

Of course she didn't love the girl more than the other. The love she held for each of them felt like a tidal wave; there was absolutely no favoring one, no competition between them. Flynn and Isabella, her two perfect, perfect babies. Flynn and Isabella.

"Are you sure about 'Flynn', dear?" her mother asked, holding him in an armchair near the bed. It was the next morning; Eugene slept peacefully beside Rapunzel, exhausted from the long night, and the rest of the family had gone off to naps of their own, overjoyed after meeting the tiny new additions. "You had so many lovely ideas for him..."

Staring into Isabella's eyes, Rapunzel hardly registered the question. "What else would we name him?"

"Well, your father was a little hopeful that maybe- of course, these days 'Frederic' is a bit less fashionable, but-"

Rapunzel shook her head. "Of course I love you guys, so much, but this is the biggest adventure Eugene and I have ever taken. It all needs to come from us- the two people we always wanted to be, the lives we always wanted to live." She looked over to her mother, beaming. "We are going to give them _everything_."

She could see in those green eyes that her mother remembered that feeling. Their eyes were something only Rapunzel and Arianna (and Willow) would get to share; both babies had been born with brown eyes. Eugene swore they were hazel, claiming Isabella's were tinged with blue and Flynn's with green, but neither were anywhere near the ones she shared with her mother. Even now, that was something just for them.

Soon after Flynn and Isabella were presented to the kingdom, Elsa and Anna had to make their way home. It was difficult to tear the newlyweds from the babies, but Kristoff and Anna were expertly set to packing by both Elsa and Cass. Willow was traveling with them back to Arendelle as well, missing her original kingdom and hoping for new adventures in the Enchanted Forest. Cass was training under Lieutenant Mattias to lead Arendelle's guard, allowing for his final retirement after the service that had lasted him for decades. All promised to return again for a visit (especially with Elsa's cryptic words about the spirits within Corona), but for now Rapunzel was more than happy for the peace and quiet with only her parents and Eugene. As much peace as two newborns could afford them, anyway.

She hadn't known it would be such a relief that neither baby had inherited blonde hair. The soft thick brown hair both grew over time let her release a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding all those months. No magic, no sun or moon, healing or hurting, within her babies. They were normal, they were beautiful, they were happy and healthy and perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Tangled is my absolute favorite Disney movie, and I just had to see these characters again, with a few ties to the original tale. Isabella's name wouldn't have been my initial choice for Rapunzel's daughter, but after researching the original fairytale and finding the story came from Naples, I named her after a real princess of Naples who died in the early 1800s, close enough to the timeframe in my mind that connects the Tangled-Frozen universe and plausible enough for Arianna and Frederic to name their own baby girl after. Especially because the original tale was "Petrosinella" and not "Rapunzel", I also loved that Isabella ended in -ella. My personal headcanon is that Arianna, Willow, and Agnarr were all siblings in that order, so Arianna and Willow's original home was Arendelle. Cassandra's final outfit does match the Arendelle uniform rather well, and I love the idea that she found a more comfortable home/fresh start in Arendelle than Corona. I do have more ideas on Cass's new connections to both Arendelle and Rapunzel's cousins there, but I'll leave that for another time. Thanks for reading!


End file.
